Homeless Center gears up for another season Volunteers and donations are being sought

Thursday

Aug 21, 2014 at 3:15 AM

ROCHESTER — The Homeless Center for Strafford County, which closes over the summer months, will reopen its doors on Oct. 6. Director Susan Ford and Case Manager Lisa Paone are already at their desks at the Rochester Neck Road facility, and will move into full-time mode at the beginning of September.

Their priority at the moment is to recruit enough volunteers from the public to ensure that the facility can function, for if there is no volunteer on duty, no clients can be in the shelter — a situation that has never quite arisen in the past, but it has come close once or twice.

“We need 50 to 60 volunteers, and as of now, we have 28,” said Ford, speaking last week.

Volunteers are asked to do a minimum of one shift per month, from October through April, once they have gone through two hours of training in September and are on the schedule. A shift runs anywhere from three to 4 1/2 hours.

On weekdays, the shifts run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 10 p.m. The weekend shifts run from 6 to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 10 p.m. Paid staff man the Homeless Shelter overnight.

“Weekday volunteers support the staff by answering phones, some light house work to either break down a room or set a room up, as well as some house laundry,” Ford said. “Nights and weekends are more office work, making sure the rules of the shelter are being followed.”

Rochester Rotary Club members provide coverage, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 8:30 a.m.

“God bless ‘em,” said Ford.

“We are licensed for 26 beds spread over six bedrooms. We usually have 18 to 22 people, depending on the size of the family units,” Ford added. “We are usually full on Day 1.”

Single men are not accommodated at the shelter and are referred to facilities in Dover or Portsmouth. The focus in Rochester is on single women and mothers with children. The coordinating agency is the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (CAP).

Over the past season, Ford said that 30 families units, comprising 95 individuals, were housed at the shelter for varying periods of time. Of that number, 47 percent were children under the age of 18.

“There were 3,153 bed nights in 2013/2014 compared to 2,490 bed nights in 2012/2013,” said Ford, consulting her records.

The Homeless Shelter building is donated by Waste Management, and the company does “a significant portion of the maintenance” according to Ford. DF Richard Energy supplies heating for the shelter, and funds are donated by an array of people, organizations and companies including TurboCam, Liberty Mutual employees, Grace Community Church, the Elks, Rochester Grange, the Legion Family, Club Victoire, the Rochester Republican Party and many more.

The Rochester Special Education Department cooks one meal a week during the school year, and area churches cooperate to supply another meal a week.

Between $137,000 and $145,000 is needed each year to run the shelter, with no money coming from the state, which would insist on single men being included in the mix as a condition for funding.

“United Way is our biggest single contributor, and they will have a Day of Caring on Sept. 11,” said Ford, explaining that a regional company or two, as their U.W. contribution, will send a team of volunteers to spruce up the facility and the grounds.

During their stay at the shelter, clients are required to do daily job/housing searches and work on whatever their specific barriers to self sufficiency are.

The Homeless Center works with several area agencies like Community Action Program, the SHARE Fund and the City Welfare offices. They also receive calls from other kinds of agencies or organizations, like area hospitals and churches, who are trying to assist their clients or someone they know find shelter.

On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Rochester Grange is holding a “Jump Start” food and supply drive for the shelter from 8 a.m.-noon. The Grange is located at 17 Charles St.

If you would like to donate or volunteer, call the Homeless Center for Strafford County at (603) 332-3065, e-mail sfordhcsc@metrocast.net or send mail to P.O. Box 7306, Rochester NH 03839. More information about them also is available at www.homelesscenterforstraffco.org.

The Board of Directors, which meets monthly, currently comprises President John Hall of Profile bank, Vice President Kathy Ford of Eastern Propane,